Fox News is reporting that the NICU at Christus Spohn Hospital South, Texas gave fourteen premature babies overdoses of the pediatric version of the blood thinner Heparin.
The error in the dosage of the medicine, used to flush intravenous lines to prevent blood clots from forming, was discovered Sunday night by hospital nurses who noticed abnormalities in lab tests, said Spohn CEO Bruce Holstein. They discontinued its use immediately and gave newborns who needed it different medications.
Two babies have been released since the discovery was made and the others were being monitored carefully. Holstein told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that the babies’ reactions to the overdoses varied, and he did not know details about effects.
Pharmacy operations were halted temporarily Monday. He said the error was believed to have happened in the pharmacy when the medicine was mixed.
Last fall this same situation happened at the Los Angeles Hospital Dennis and Kimberly Quaid’s twins were being looked after.
Although the babies have both recovered, the couple filed a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company that makes the drug citing that medication errors occurred due to product labeling. Their suit also claimed that each year there’s 1.5 million medication errors in America.
